PL club reach agreement with Chelsea to sign Armando Broja on loan until the end of the season - Reports
Fulham have reportedly reached an agreement with Chelsea to loan Armando Broja until the end of the season.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the Blues will receive a £4 million loan fee for the Albania international. The Cottagers replenished their attack last summer by signing Raul Jimenez from Wolverhampton Wanderers, with proven goal-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic making his way to Al-Hilal.
However, Fulham haven't had the desired outcome from Jimenez or Carlos Vinicius, with the duo managing a tally of eight goals in a combined 40 appearances across competitions this season. Broja's arrival could, hence, help Marco Silva's side add an extra edge to their frontline.
The Albanian striker was struggling for regular playing time under Mauricio Pochettino, playing just 452 minutes of Premier League football this term. The 22-year-old scored just twice in 19 appearances across competitions under the Argentine.
Broja has played in 38 senior games for the Blues since joining them from Tottenham Hotspur's youth academy in 2009, scoring thrice. Despite Christopher Nkunku's injury problems, it seems Chelsea are content with ending the current season without Broja's services.
Nicolas Jackson has returned to their ranks after Senegal's elimination from the AFCON in the last 16 against Ivory Coast (1-1 A.E.T, 4-5 on penalties). Raheem Sterling can also play as a centre-forward occasionally and so can 18-year-old Brazilian attacker Deivid Washington.
Mauricio Pochettino says Liverpool deserved to beat Chelsea
Chelsea were at the end of a 4-1 drubbing by Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on Wednesday (January 31).
Goals from Diogo Jota, Conor Bradley, and Dominik Szoboszlai had Liverpool 3-0 up with 65 minutes on the clock. Christopher Nkunku pulled one back for the visitors in the 71st minute before Luis Diaz ended any hopes of a Chelsea comeback with a tap-in eight minutes later.
After the game, Mauricio Pochettino was quick to admit that the Reds deserved a win, despite his side having two penalty appeals turned down. He said, via GOAL:
"The performance wasn’t good from us. It's not a final excuse (penalty appeal). They deserved to win. They were better than us. But to talk about this, I don't want to talk about that because it's part of football. They were better than us from the first action. In this kind of game, you need to say 'well done Liverpool'. They were more at it than us."
Liverpool kept 51% of the ball but had 28 attempts as compared to Chelsea's four, highlighting their superiority in the final third. The win took the league leaders to 51 points from 22 games — 20 points and nine places above the Blues in the table.